diff --git a/plugins/airbrake-backend/src/config/ExtractAirbrakeConfig.test.ts b/plugins/airbrake-backend/src/config/ExtractAirbrakeConfig.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d823d8134e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/airbrake-backend/src/config/ExtractAirbrakeConfig.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2022 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+import { getVoidLogger } from '@backstage/backend-common';
+import { ConfigReader } from '@backstage/config';
+import { extractAirbrakeConfig } from './ExtractAirbrakeConfig';
+import * as winston from 'winston';
+
+describe('ExtractAirbrakeConfig', () => {
+  let oldProcessEnv: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
+  let voidLogger: winston.Logger;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    oldProcessEnv = process.env;
+    voidLogger = getVoidLogger();
+  });
+
+  it('does not fail in development', () => {
+    process.env = {
+      ...oldProcessEnv,
+      NODE_ENV: 'development',
+    };
+
+    const config = new ConfigReader({});
+
+    expect(() => extractAirbrakeConfig(config, voidLogger)).not.toThrow();
+    const airbrakeConfig = extractAirbrakeConfig(config, voidLogger);
+    expect(airbrakeConfig.apiKey).toStrictEqual('');
+  });
+
+  it('fails in production', () => {
+    process.env = {
+      ...oldProcessEnv,
+      NODE_ENV: 'production',
+    };
+
+    const config = new ConfigReader({});
+    expect(() => extractAirbrakeConfig(config, voidLogger)).toThrow();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    process.env = { ...oldProcessEnv };
+  });
+});